New Network Puts Sports On Cable

March 5, 1988|By Susan G. Strother of The Sentinel Staff

Central Florida cable-TV viewers will be able to tune in this afternoon to the Sunshine Network, a statewide sports and public-information station that today is to air the first of more than two dozen collegiate baseball games.

The network is owned by 11 Florida cable companies and Houston-based Home Sports Entertainment.

The station will be available on the basic service of most of the cable- television systems serving Central Florida, including CableVision of Central Florida, Cablevision Industries and Storer.

''The Sunshine Network has 11 equity partners, the cable stations, who own 51 percent, and then Home Sports owns 49 percent,'' said Dave Reid, communications director for Continental Cablevision of Jacksonville Inc.

The participating cable companies have put up $3.8 million in ''subscription'' fees -- equal to $2.40 annually for each subscriber -- while Home Sports has committed $4 million. Home Sports, which produces a similar sports network in Texas, is owned by the Houston Sports Association, the privately held Texas company that owns the Houston Astros and manages the Houston Astrodome.

Both Sunshine and the local cable companies that air the signal will sell advertising time. Network ad revenues, however, are not expected to amount to more than 20 percent of total revenues, which at current subscription levels would be about $760,000.

The network, which begins with about 1.6 million subscribers, is Florida's second cable sports channel.

SportsChannel Florida, based in Boca Raton, began broadcasting in November, serves 100,000 subscribers and has subscription revenues of $264,000.

Rod Mickler, SportsChannel's marketing director, said the state's cable- TV companies, the largest of which have an ownership stake in Sunshine Network, have refused to subscribe to SportsChannel.

He said, however, that the company, whose parent organization owns similar cable networks in the Northeast, will continue attempting to secure a spot on Florida cable systems.

Both Sunshine and Sports-Channel operate similarly in that each has obtained contracts that allow them to air the games of various schools -- Sunshine has the University of Central Florida and Florida State University, while SportsChannel has Rollins College and University of Florida.

Professional sporting events will also be aired, including major-league baseball, horse racing and boxing.

Both Sunshine and the SportsChannel are competing for the contract for the Orlando Magic; SportsChannel already has the contract for the Miami Heat.

The cost for the rights to games varies from a couple of thousand dollars to $20,000 or $30,000 a game for major-league baseball, said Dick Barron, executive vice president of Home Sports. Mickler at SportsChannel would not reveal the cost of rights contracts. The stations show most games live, though they may show taped events.

''The success of regional networks comes from the heart of the service, which is local teams,'' Barron said. ''We expect to have 1.9 million subscribers by the end of this year, and maybe 2.4 million or 2.5 million in three years.''